A living museum: Mt. Nemo, Bethany, Madaba and the Roman city of Jerash

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A living museum: Mt. Nemo, Bethany, Madaba and the Roman city of Jerash

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A living museum: Mt. Nemo,
Bethany, Madaba and the Roman city of Jerash

©
by Mike Keenan

Jordan
is a living museum, ten days there, an incredible learning experience. We
visited Bethany beyond the Jordan were Jesus was baptized by John who existed on
wild honey and locusts, the site maintained in a relatively simple state and
where Tony Blair recently baptized his son. A few metres across the river, sits
an Israeli checkpoint.

We climbed Mount
Nemo where Moses, the great Hebrew
prophet, viewed the Promised Land just beyond the Jordan
River then succumbed to death without realizing his goal. Pope John
Paul II preached here over a panorama that encompassed the Jordan River Valley,
Dead Sea, Jericho and Jerusalem. A serpentine cross symbolizes the
brass serpent that God commanded Moses to fashion to help cure his followers
from their afflictions, a symbol that medicine probably co-opted.

We passed by reputed caves where
Lot escaped the “fire and brimstone” that destroyed Sodom
and Gomorrah and at the Dead Sea, I merrily
floated on the water and viewed pillars of salt, one of which might have been Lot’s wife.

At Madaba, I viewed the oldest Byzantine
mosaic map of the Middle East on the floor of St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church.

We visited the Muslim and Crusader
castles of Ajloun and Kerak with their stone-vaulted halls and intricate
passageways some filled with huge round rocks thrust from catapults; however,
most castles were destroyed by the Turks prior to the British taking over
during WWII. On the King’s Highway, I observed camel crossing signs and at
Aqaba, I swam in the Red Sea and enjoyed
remarkable coral formations through a glass-bottomed boat.

            And then there
was spectacular Jerash, a well-preserved Roman city north of Amman, where William Wyler could easily have
filmed his 1959 movie, Ben-Hur.  Complete
with paved and colonnaded streets, grand temples and Byzantine mosaic-floored
churches, the first monument I notice is Hadrian’s Arch and then the
Hippodrome, 244 metres long, scene of ancient sporting festivals that seats
15,000, now where they produce RACE, the Roman Army and Chariots Experience.

I sit in the stands as a toga-clad
“emperor” (with a British accent) describes the events before us. We are
treated to several robust gladiatorial contests involving the complete range of
weaponry and allowed to turn thumbs up or down for the final kill. There are
chariot races around a long wooden divider but not as thrilling as that conducted
between Charlton Heston and his arch rival, Messala, played by Stephen Boyd. A
Roman legion marches into formation in front of us, and at the completion, we
are encouraged to climb down from the stands for pictures. Of course, I oblige
and in the spirit of the moment, engage a few gladiators, employing my trusty
cane. They let me win, and I’m off to see the rest of the ruins.

At the South Theatre seating 3,000,
I notice that the seats and sections are actually marked with Greek symbols and
here, we encounter a strange sight and sound, Arabs playing bagpipes and drums.
Scots won’t like this, but Arabs claim that the ‘pipes’ originated here.

One could spend an entire day here,
every angle a photo opportunity. The huge cobblestones are remarkable for one
can clearly make out ruts, worn down from countless chariot wheels.      

            Would I
return to Jordan?
You bet. It’s safe; the people are incredibly friendly, so much so that one imagines
he is in Newfoundland.
And as for western ladies, the business about clothes is a myth. Ibrahim, my
guide, maintains that ladies should wear their western clothes without fear of
offence. In fact, you observe a complete array of fashion tastes here from
total coverage to shorts and t-shirts. At hotels, the bikinis are skimpy. And
when you enter markets or stores, a universal “welcome” greets you, sometimes
with spontaneous offers of tea.

            The key
word to memorize here is “shukran” or thank you.     

Mike Keenan
writes a weekly newspaper column for the St. Catharines Standard and has been
published in the Globe and Mail, Buffalo Spree, Stitches, West of the City and
Pulse Magazine. He is editor of the zines, What Travel Writers Say: www.whattravelwriterssay.com
and Synapse Magazine: www.synapsemagazine.ca




Photo Credits

Mike Keenan: Mt. Nemo cross, Madaba mosaic map,  Kerak, a Crusader castle, RACE – bugler,
chariots and legion, bagpiper, colonnaded street with chariot wheel ruts.

If you go

Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/tourism1.html

King Abdullah II: http://www.kingabdullah.jo/homepage.php

RACE: roman Army & Chariot Experience: http://www.jerashchariots.com/

Royal Jordanian Airlines: http://www.rja.com.jo/default.aspx

Visit Jordan:
www.visitjordan.com